Culinary diplomacy
WHEN North Korean President Kim Jong-un crossed over to the South Korea side of the demilitarized zone for a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April 2018, the latter made sure Kim was fed well. On the menu for the two leaders’ dinner was a Korean-style Swiss potato rosti as appetizer, to recall Kim’s youth in Switzerland where he studied. Also, among the main entrees was a steamed red snapper and catfish, which are found in both Koreas, to underscore the similarities between both countries.
For decades, food has been used to forge better relations between nations and, hopefully, keep the peace in many regions. Culinary diplomacy, in fact, is now a subject taught in many universities in the United States as part of a wider course on public diplomacy.
As the Philippines commemorates Asean Month, which was in August, the Asean Ladies Foundation Inc. (ALF), in cooperation with the Philippines’s Department of Foreign Affairs and PXP Energy Corp., recently launched a series of cooking videos that showcase beloved national recipes from the 10 member-nations.
The cooking videos have not come at a better time, since a lot of people who have been forced to stay home due to the community quarantines implemented to control the spread of Covid-19, have gotten productive, even creative in the kitchen.
Member-nations of the Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) were unable to undertake the usual Asean Month festivities, thus ALF members thought these videos were an interesting and inspiring way to highlight home cooking from their respective countries.
The video series “Flavorful Journeys: Exploring Asean Cuisine” shows that learning about the cultures of our Asean neighbors is not always limited to physical travels abroad. Thanks to the power of the Internet, foodies and home cooks will have a fun opportunity to cook as the locals do, and also learn a little bit about the history and culture of each nation’s cuisine.
The video series was launched via Zoom on Tuesday, led by ALF Chairman Louie B. Locsin, spouse of our fiery Twitter “darling” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin, and ALF President Linda Rahmanto, spouse of the Indonesian Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Widya Rahmanto.
“Food brings people together. We noticed that a lot of people have become creative and productive in the kitchen, especially during this pandemic. So we thought that creating cooking videos highlighting some of the most beloved dishes from our respective countries was a good way to share a little bit of home with everyone,” said Locsin.
Rahmanto added, “With the cooking videos, we will still give everyone a taste of our countries’ culture and favorite dresses, and we do hope that you will be inspired to bring our cuisine into your home.”
Locsin shared that she wanted to showcase the adobo in a cooking demo by Chef Myrna Segismundo because “can you imagine there are more than 100 versions of the dish? I’d like to learn 50 more!” She added, “It’s a very common thing in every household. Adobo is included in every Filipino restaurant menu, but there are just so many versions.” Segismundo cooks Chicken and Pork Adobo and Chicken Adobo in Coconut Milk in the video series.
Personally, said Locsin, her family enjoys an adobo achuete (adobo in annatto oil), because they like their adobo “redder.” After the press briefing, she shared with me her family’s adobo recipe: “I use vinegar, toyo [soy sauce] and achuete oil to marinate [the pork and chicken pieces]. Then we boil it. Then I fry. But you save a bit of achuete oil to pour after all has been fried.” And just like any good Filipino comfort dish, “it’s the oil from the fat that matters.”
(For cooking rookies out there, you get achuete oil by slowly panfrying achuete seeds in a bit of cooking oil until the red color is rendered.)
Rahmanto, for her part, chose to feature the Ayam Bakar Bumbu Rujak because “I know a lot of Filipinos here love grilled chicken.” The bumbu rujak actually refers to a special spice base made of palm sugar, terasi (Indonesian shrimp paste), bird’s eye chili, salt, tamarind pulp, garlic, shallot, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemon grass and water. This is then massaged into the dried whole chicken or chicken cutlets, which earlier had been brined. It’s best to keep the chicken marinated overnight before it’s grilled.
I was most intrigued by Brunei’s dish, the Ambuyat. According Noraimi Rosli, spouse of Khairul Hazwan Mohd Nor, Second Secretary of the Brunei Embassy, “We picked [the ambuyat] because of its texture. There’s nothing like it.” Made from ambulung, a powder from sago starch, it is mixed with boiling water resulting in a gelatinous sticky goo that you have to twirl in a bamboo fork called the chandas. It’s best served with special side dishes made from fried mackerel, salted minced meat, the bin jai fruit, beef, or prawns.
Watching some of the videos, I was quite fascinated with the Mohinga, which was cooked by Myint Thandar, the spouse of Lwin Oo, Myanmar’s Ambassador to the Philippines. The ingredients are quite numerous—from catfish, chickpeas, lemongrass, noodles to banana stem, etc.—and where you have to make two different kinds of paste before putting them into a soup. It seemed quite daunting for the sheer labor that went into cooking it, although I imagine all that work could only produce a gently aromatic and comforting dish.
“We used to eat Mohinga as breakfast, but as a snack we eat [it] anytime,” said Thandar, adding that they eat it with coffee or tea. (Did I mention that it’s a soup?)
The other dishes featured in the video series are: Trey Amok or Steamed Fish Curry (Cambodia), Jamu Kunyit Asam or Turmeric and Tamarind Herbal Drink (Indonesia), Larp/larb Kai or Chicken Salad (Laos), Ayam Masak Merah or Spicy Tomato Chicken (Malaysia), Hokkien Mee or Noodles in a Prawn-pork Broth (Singapore), Tom Yung Goong or Spicy-sour Seafood Soup (Thailand), as well as Goi Cuon or Fresh Spring Rolls, and Fried Chicken Spring Rolls (Vietnam).
The ALF is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 2007, whose aim is to help strengthen the ties between the membercountries by fostering unity and cooperation through sociocultural programs and events. The cooking videos are available on the foundation’s Facebook page and on Youtube.